President Josh Welsh: “In the ’80s we thought: Time to recognize independently made films. Piggybacking on the Big Show, we couldn’t afford to fly people out so, less well-known, our first year was in a restaurant on La Cienega.

“We wanted it fun. Not stuffy. Different clothes. No tuxedos. Before the Oscars. Since it’s daytime, outdoors. Maybe a tent. We picked an iconic location, Santa Monica’s beach.

“‘Selma’ director Ava DuVernay won 2013. Nobody’d heard of her. She made tiny ‘Middle of Nowhere’ for $200,000 with David Oyelowo and the same crew she used now. 2002 Denzel Washington directed ‘Antwone Fisher.’ Actor Derek Luke, a caterer working our event the year before, won. ‘12 Years a Slave’s’ Lupita Nyong’o thanked her mother for making her study acting. Who knew her before?

“Now, we, too, are on TV. Live. No delay. We’re easy, irreverent but, regardless of what’s said onstage, it goes out there.”

So Mr. President Josh Welsh, you go to the Oscars?

“No.”

‘Fever’ for flight fancies

July Plume publishes what I mentioned yesterday “Cabin Fever,” in which a toasty hostie Virgin Airlines stewardess mentions another “wedged into an armchair with a black-haired guy, snogging for Britain . . . girls wearing nothing but G-strings, heels, boobs jiggling came bouncing in.” About “good sport” boss Sir Richard Branson: “At one stud-studded party” he “pulled his clothes off in unison with other hunky dancers — and revealed Union Jack shorts as the finale.”

A car’s into Jackson Heights’ gigantic Koeppel Nissan dealership service center for washing. They refused it. “The only person who washes cars here is stuck in California because of the blizzard.” They gave her a nearby free carwash.